Thanksgiving Blessings

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. First, Jeremy had a half day on Wednesday which it was really nice to see him early that day and Aidan had a performance at school which was really sweet. Then we were blessed to have Jeremy's cousins over on Thanksgiving which I took absolutely no pictures of despite both Eileen and I having our cameras sitting out. It is so nice to have some family living close by again and it was wonderful to share in the day with them. Their girls are so sweet and make really good pumpkin pie. We hope to be able to see them more while we are here.

On Friday we traveled down to Ashland, VA to see our good friends the Archers who were our neighbors at Vandenberg. It was wonderful to catch up and for our boys to have playmates to hang out with again. And of course Aidan's favorite person Miss Meg spoiled him rotten as usual. We were also blessed with good food again as we had fresh oyster soup and fried oysters. So yummy! We also hit the Bass Pro to get Jeremy's Christmas present while we were there and that is where all the pictures are from. Miss Meg also let the boys shoot air pellet guns which they enjoyed every second of. The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and eating leftovers which was wonderful. We got our outside Christmas lights up which was fun and pulled out our inside Christmas stuff but haven't decorated yet because we are going to get a real Christmas tree next weekend.

We spent a lot of time talking with the boys this weekend about what we are thankful for as we have been so blessed in our lives. A few of the things they were thankful for were football, new friends, a new bike, and video games. The things I am thankful for this year are new friends, great new neighbors, good schools and teachers, wonderful warm Fall weather, old friends who are keeping me sane, and good health just to name a few. I have really been trying to make a concerted effort to spend some time everyday thanking God for all the many blessings even the small ones and this year I would really like to stay present enough to really enjoy those many blessings. Hope everyone had as blessed a Thanksgiving weekend.

So over the Fall Leaves

Wasn't I just saying that I loved the view of all the beautiful trees in our yard. Well I am sooooo over it now. After raking up 75 bags of leaves in 3 weeks and my backyard still looking like we didn't do anything to it I am ready for the leaves to be done for the season. Hopefully, maybe one more weekend of picking up and then the leaves will be all gone or at least we won't worry about dealing with them until the spring. The picture is from one weekend where we picked up 25 bags of leaves.

Old Bridge Christmas Parade

Last weekend our little area had their annual Christmas parade. It was pretty short and sweet but the kids loved it. They got candy and Santa was riding on top of the firetruck at the end. They had both local high school marching bands which were pretty good and the local high school had the Jr. ROTC core marching and they had almost 250 cadets which is pretty impressive. The kids looked bundled up in some of the pictures because the weather man said it was supposed to be in the low 30's that morning and it turned out to be in the 50's by the time we got there so it really wasn't that bad. The boys are sitting with our neighbors who brought everybody donuts and hot chocolate.

Fall Pictures

Today we finally snapped some pictures of the beautiful leaves in our backyard. It is almost past peak here. It is so beautiful here right now every time I drive down the street the trees just make me happy. The boys cooperated for a few minutes for a few pictures too. The first few pictures are off of our deck in the backyard.

Mini-Golf

Yesterday we went mini-golfing after Nick's parent teacher conferences to celebrate him getting a good report and straight A's. We went to this amazing golf course called Perils of the Lost Jungle in Herndon, VA. They had all kinds of cool things in this course. Alligators and frogs that spit water at you if you aren't watching out. Swinging monkeys and Tarzan in the trees. A huge gorilla that roars out of the trees that nearly scared the pants off Aidan. A volcano that explodes and a whole that spits your ball back out at you when in goes in the whole. It was a lot of fun and the boys were laughing the whole time. It was a beautiful day here yesterday as it was almost 70 degrees. We are soaking up all the last days of warmth and sunshine here because I am sure it won't be long before winter is here.

More of Soccer with Aidan

Aidan scoring a goal.

Aidan getting his medal after the game.

Enjoying the pizza party.

Doing the end of the game cheer.

Aidan on a break away.

The whole team with coach Justin.

Aidan dribbling away.

Well Aidan had his last day of soccer today. They played a double header to make up for a rain day and had a pizza party to end the season. It was a beautiful day for soccer. It was a little cold in the early game but the sun was out and it warmed up quick. Aidan enjoyed soccer but still hasn't really figured out the whole competitive thing. He did score a bunch of goals this season including one today which was fun to see. Nick also finished his Football season today with a playoff game which they won in overtime. On the opening play of the game he ran the whole length of the field for a touchdown. Jeremy said it was really impressive. He also went to Basketball camp today to get ready for the upcoming basketball season. I am very much looking forward to the next few weekends where we have absolutely nothing on the calendar!

Pumpkin Carving

Sadly, I took very few pictures of Halloween related activities. Aidan and I went trick or treating at the neighborhood shopping center and I didn't have my camera. Nick's class didn't get to celebrate Halloween because they can only have 2 parties a year in third grade and chose to do Christmas and Valentines. Aidan didn't attend his class party and parade because he was so sick he didn't leave his bed all of Halloween day. I took one picture of Nick on my phone after trick or treating because I couldn't find my camera. So pumpkin carving are the only pictures I have this year. Aidan was Darth Vader and I will have to take a picture of him some day because he plays dress up all the time in it. Nick was a skeleton. We had a great time on Halloween despite Aidan being sick and having spent 3 hours at the doctors office with him. Our neighbors are the best and they go big on Halloween. My FBI neighbor does this elaborate scary display where he uses real meat as scattered body parts and uses his FBI car and tape and jumps out of a body bag. It was hilarious fun and the kids really enjoyed it. All of my neighbors sat in our long driveway and had a huge potluck with great food and passed out candy. Nick was rather impressed with the neighbors too because so many of them went all out crazy in the decorating department as well as candy. Nick came home with tons of whole giant sized candy bars. I guess it pays to live in a neighborhood with Congressmen and Generals. Hopefully, next year Aidan will get to enjoy it more too.